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"Callum! Please, come back. It doesn't matter what you did before. I just want you to be okay again."
At the moment, Rayla was actually losing it. Callum had used dark magic in order to save her from her fight with Soren and now it appeared as though he was in some sort of dark magic coma. She felt so guilty about this, it was all her fault that he ended up like this. He was mumbling frantically and sweating in his unconscious state. The dark circles around his eyes had not disappeared, if anything they got darker.
"I can't lose you like this, you mean too much to me."
Rayla held Callum in her arms, wrapping him up into a hug, rubbing his back in an attempt to sooth him and make the suffering go away. For a moment, she pulled away to study Callum, holding his up by his shoulders. She had met him fairly recently, but it felt as though they had known each other for a lifetime. And with each passing minute, Rayla felt her affection for the step prince grow larger and larger until it overtook her whole being.
At first it was the kind of affections friends felt for each other. But soon it turned into something much more. Rayla tried denying her feelings for quite some time, but sadly this did her no good.
Rayla brought her hand to Callum's cheek, tenderly caressing it.
"Callum, I-"
"I-"
She stopped herself. She wasn't going to admit this, it would just make the whole situation so much more real for her. Rayla knew that Callum saw her as a friend, nothing more. They were just friends. And every time he called her his friend, Rayla's heart soared because it made her realize how lucky she was to even know someone as amazing as Callum. But at the same time, her heart would break into a million little pieces, reminding her of how nothing more then platonic friendship would ever happen between the two.
But then again, maybe admitting her feeling would be a good thing. Rayla figures it probably wasn't the best to keep all her emotions and feelings bottled up inside. If she told Callum while he was unconscious, he wouldn't be able to reject her confession and it would be like a weight lifted off of her shoulders.
Rayla's hand was still on Callum's cheek. She studied his face for a quick moment, searching for any signs of him waking up. When she determined that Callum wasn't going to come into consciousness for a bit, Rayla made her decision.
"Callum I-" she started, swallowing the lump in her throat before continuing.
"Callum I love you!"
Surprised by her actions, Rayla gasped and moved her hand that was once holding Callum's cheek up to her mouth to cover it. What had she done? Did she seriously just do that? Rayla was already starting to regret her decisions. What if he heard her? What his he wasn't totally knocked out and just listened to her confess her feelings. But then Rayla calmed down. Even if he did hear her, she could always just say it was a dream if Callum decides to bring it up. And considering his awkwardness, Callum probably wouldn't bring it up anyway.
Rayla was brought out of her thoughts by something grabbing her thigh. She looked down at her lap and completely forgot that she let go of Callum's face, resulting in the boy falling straight into her lap. He was now using Rayla's lap as a pillow, squeezing her lower thigh every time something bad happened in his dreams. Well, at least Rayla assumes they were dreams, what else would it be?
"Shhhh, it's okay. You are going to be fine." She told Callum while running her fingers through his chocolate brown hair, which turned out to be surprisingly soft. She continued to do this as he squirmed and mumbled. Rayla was somewhat amused by how Callum was acting like a little child, but at the same time, she felt more worried about what was happening to him. When he started squirming more than before, Rayla sat him up so he was kneeling like before and enclosed him in a hug once more, still running her fingers through his soft hair.
"Please be okay Callum, I don't know what I'd do without you. Even if you're too dense to realize it, I love you and I always will." She whispered softly into his shoulder.
It was after this sentence that Callum shot up, eyes wide and the dark circles gone from his eyes, causing Rayla to regrettably drop her arms from the hug and move her hand away from his hair. She did however take Callum's hand in her own in an effort to calm him down, rubbing small circles in the back of his hand with her thumb. He looked around frantically before setting his gaze on the person in front of him, Rayla.
"Oh, your awake." Rayla said awkwardly. She smiled at Callum in an attempt to reassure him, but internally she was freaking out. What if he heard her talking before he woke up? He'd know about Rayla's feelings for him and then everything would be awkward. Rayla would rather keep her feelings buried deep down and continue to be Callum's friend then have him find out and reject her. She was so deep in thought that Rayla didn't notice that strange look Callum was giving her. "What?" She asked after finally noticing him looking at her.
Callum just continued to to stare at her, a small smile spreading across his face. "Oh it's nothing."
Rayla was so confused. He just came out of a weird dark magic coma and now he was being all smiley. "Are you okay? What happened to you?" Rayla asked in a concerned voice.
Callum's furrowed his eyebrows, trying to recall his dreams. "I'm not sure, I was having a ton of visions, but most of them are a blur now. I can only remember bits and pieces." He explained. Rayla let out an unintentional sign of relief, happy that Callum hadn't heard her confession. "Although, there was one part that I remember pretty vividly, towards the end of all the visions."
Oh no. Rayla started to internally panic once again. He probably heard her. She had just ruined everything. "Oh yeah? And what would that be?" Rayla asked wittily, as if nothing was wrong.
Callum looked down at his lap where Rayla was holding his hand tightly. "Oh it's nothing."
He said nonchalantly. Callum's eyes wandered around their setting before narrowing his eyes. "Where's Ezran?"
Rayla just glared at him. Did Callum just change the subject on her? Why would he that? Did he hear what Rayla said and was avoiding the conversation, or did he have a dream about something else that he didn't want to talk about? "He went on a walk around the forest, Corvus keeping an eye on him." She explained.
Callum lifted an eyebrow. "Who's Corvus?" He asked, clearly confused.
"He's a tracker and he came to find Ezran to take him back to Katolis. Also, Ezran found out about your dad." Rayla told him.
Callum's face suddenly dropped. "He knows? Damnit, I should have been there for him. I should have told him sooner. He should have heard it from me, not some random person. I am the worst brother." Callum ranted, raising the hand not being held by Rayla up to his hair, running his fingers through it roughly. His grip on Rayla's hand strengthened unintentionally, and Rayla simply squeezed it back.
Seeming Callum so stressed hurt Rayla. "Callum it's okay. He actually took it way better than I thought he would. He's just walking around to clear his head, I'm sure he'll be back soon." Rayla reassured him. "And you aren't a bad brother. It's not like it was your choice to pass out."
Callum sighed. "I am a crappy brother though. If I didn't use dark magic then I would have been fine. We could be in Xadia already and Ezran would have been fine. I'm such a screw up."
"Callum don't talk like that. It's not your fault. You did what you had to do. Hell, if you didn't use dark magic then I probably wouldn't be here. And Xadia isn't going anywhere, it doesn't matter if we take a small break to let you feel better. Also Ezran is more grown up than you think, so don't treat him like a little kid all the time." Rayla told him.
She noticed Callum wasn't looking at her, he was looking anywhere but her eyes. Rayla used her free hand to pull his chin up to face her. "Look at me Callum," she told him. Finally he gazed up and into her eyes. Rayla almost choked, his stunning green orbs always made her swoon. Regaining her composure, Rayla spoke again, never breaking eye contact with the boy in front of her. she grabbed his other hand so both of their hands were intertwined before speaking.
"Callum, you aren't a screw up. You are a great brother and just an overall amazing person. And I so grateful that you saved me, even though Soren wouldn't have done much damage anyway. I am so glad that we met, I don't know what I'd do without you."
Rayla stopped there, if she continued talking she'd say too much. Callum's eyes looked a little glassy but not to the point where he was going to cry, and a small smile was present on his face.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Callum asked, the smile on his face growing slightly wider. This confused Rayla, what else was she suppose to say?
"What do you mean?" Rayla asked, feeling her cheeks heat up from being under Callum's gaze for such a long period of time. Her hands were still holding Callum's and she could feel her hands starting to sweat a little. Why was she so nervous?
Callum simply smirked. "Well you see, I vaguely remember you giving me this speech earlier, only you seem to have left something out this time." Callum explained, leaning his face closer to Rayla's. There had been a little more then a foots distance between the two earlier, but Callum's action brought them several inches closer to each other.
Rayla could feel her heart pounding inside her chest and butterflies exploding in her stomach. So Callum did hear her. And now he was teasing her about it. Rayla was happy that this was off her chest, but sad that Callum didn't share the same feelings that she did. Accepting that her feelings weren't reciprocated, Rayla looked down into her lap where her hands held onto Callum's.
Taking a deep breath, Rayla finally spoke after a few moments of silence. "Okay so you weren't suppose to hear me say that. And I really don't want to say it again because it will just make everything so much more real." Rayla started, speaking carefully. "I know that you don't feel the same way. And I might need a little time to accept that, but I hope that we can still be friends because you're just an amazing person and I-"
Rayla was suddenly cut off by Callum, who put his hand over her mouth. Rayla raised an eyebrow at him, confused by Callum's actions. Callum on the other hand looked shocked. "So you do like me!" He said in disbelief.
This statement confused Rayla even more. "What do you mean? I thought you knew? Isn't that what you were talking about earlier?" Rayla asked frantically.
Callum jut shook his head. "I mean, you said something about loving me in one of my visions but I didn't know that you actually felt that way! I was just teasing you."
It was in this moment that Rayla's heart broke. He didn't have any feeling for her that were beyond platonic. She always knew that but now it felt so much more real.
"Can we please forget this ever happened?" Rayla asked. "I don't want things to be awkward between us. Please."
"Rayla-" Callum began to speak, but was cut off almost immediately.
Rayla let go of Callum's hands and began to stand up. It had only been a few seconds but she already missed the warmth that the step prince's hands provided. "We should pack up camp and go find Ezran, he's been gone for awhile now." Rayla said in a very bland voice.
"Rayla hold on a sec -"
"Then after that we can start heading for Xadia again."
"Rayla wait -"
"Once we are there we can finally get Zym back to his mom and everything will be-"
"Rayla shut up and listen to me!" Callum told her harshly. Rayla quickly stopped talking and looked over towards Callum, but refused to make eye contact. He took a few steps towards her so that we was standing right in front of her. After this, Callum grabbed Rayla's hand in his own and squeezed it. "Rayla look-"
"Callum I don't want to hear it!" Rayla said a little harsher than she intended. "Look, I don't want to hear some speech about how you think I'm a good friend but you don't like me in 'that' way. Just drop it, I really don't care whether or not you like me back or not. And it's so obvious you like Claudia, so just dr-"
That was the second time Rayla had been cut off that day by Callum. Only this time he didn't use his hand. Instead, Rayla found a pair of lips pressed against her own. Callum's lips to be exact. Rayla was frozen in shock for a few moments. Why was he doing this? Callum wouldn't kiss me unless he liked me back. But that's impossible, he likes Claudia. Or maybe that was a thing of the past? To be honest, Rayla has no idea what was happening. All she could focus on was her thoughts and Callum's lips pressed to hers.
Everything surrounding her has become blurry and unfocused, the only thing in the world right now that mattered was Callum. While Rayla's thoughts were racing in her head, Callum began to move his lips against hers, causing Rayla to freak out a little. She had never kissed anyone before. What was she suppose to do? Trying to figure out what was happening, Rayla also began to move her lips to imitate Callum. She then brought one of her hands up to Callum's face to rest it on his cheek like she had when he was unconscious.
After what felt like eternity, Rayla found herself running out of oxygen. Regrettably, she pulled away from Callum's lips, resting her forehead against his. "What was that for?" She asked, panting slightly.
Callum looked at her as if she was crazy. "What do you think? You wouldn't stop talking about how I don't like you so I had to shut you up somehow!" He said in disbelief.
Rayla furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you implying?" She had a pretty good feeling ah knew what his answer was, but part of her believed it was too good to be true. Callum rolled his eyes before taking both his hands and holding her face between them.
"Rayla, I love you."
Rayla felt a large smile spread across her face. Overwhelmed with joy, she wrapped her arms around Callum's waist and hugged him tightly. She couldn't believe this was happening. Callum liked her back. Better yet, he loved her.
Callum moves his hands from Rayla's face and hugged her back. "I'm glad we got that sorted out." Callum said while breathing in her scent, finding it rather soothing.
"Me too," Rayla replied, moving her head back enough to look at Callum's face. He did the same as her and for the second time, their lips found each other. The two teens were enjoying each other's presence and their newfound feelings when they were rudely interrupted.
Ezran and Corvus has finally returned, and in Rayla's opinion, they couldn't have chosen a worse time to arrive. Upon arriving, Ezran stared at his brother and his friend in disbelief.
"Callum when the heck did you learn to suck face?"